5 tips to keep your cat active
Unlike their tail-wagging counterparts, cats are used to organizing their free time independently and keeping themselves entertained.
But suddenly, on Monday morning, you don’t leave the house and your feline friend Mimi is already waiting at the door, expecting you to finally open up her kingdom and let the cat party at home begin. Sometimes, you might be home for several days in a row—the perfect opportunity to do a little training with your feline friend. We’ll show you how to fill this time together with play and fun.
1. Chase and movement games: The absolute favorite
Is your feline friend a little live wire and usually used to spending her free time outdoors? Playing hide-and-seek together is a great way to stimulate your cat’s natural hunting instinct. Scatter empty boxes and paper bags around the apartment and watch your cat go into hunting mode.
Pick a hiding place yourself and lure your cat. When she finds you, reward her with a →tasty snack. To further ignite her hunting drive, you can use wand toys that you glide through the apartment to coax your feline friend out of her hiding spot.
2. Puzzle toys
To encourage not only enough exercise but also your cat’s mind, puzzle toys are ideal. You can buy them from well-known brands or easily make them yourself. For this, use a box and cut holes of various sizes into it. Then fill the box with balls or →treats and let your cat get creative.
Empty toilet paper rolls are also great for mental stimulation—and if you’ve been following the current consumption, you probably have plenty at hand. Just fill the empty rolls with toys or →snacks and let your cat experiment.
3. Clicker training – one click, one treat
A clicker—as the name suggests—makes a "click" sound. It can help you teach your feline friend to start or stop a specific behavior. Whether it’s begging at the table, scratching the couch, or constant meowing: with consistent clicker training, these behaviors will soon be a thing of the past.
The special thing about the clicker is its always consistent sound—cats can be conditioned to this especially well. Your voice, on the other hand, is sometimes high and sometimes low, so it’s much harder to teach your cat to “give paw” without a clicker.
The process should always be the same: You give a command, for example, "sit" and after your cat performs the command, you present her with a →treat along with the click sound. The click combined with the reward now signals to your cat: "Now I did something right".
What’s important during the exercises is timing, praise your cat with a treat and a click immediately after she performs. Some cats learn quickly, others more slowly. The code words for commands must always stay the same, as should your tone of voice. Create a positive atmosphere for training, don’t pressure your cat, and keep the sessions short.
To start, train by clicking without a command and giving your cat a reward. Repeat this until your cat comes to you when she hears the click sound in the apartment.
Give this a try!
4. Agility – when the living room becomes an obstacle course
Agility—isn’t that just for dogs? Think again—so-called cat agility is tailored to the traits and needs of your feline friend and brings lots of variety into your home! The prerequisite is that your cat is already used to the clicker.
To build a course, use things your cat already loves, like empty boxes. Set up low hurdles and provide your feline friend with tunnels to explore. You can also easily create ramps yourself using chairs and cardboard. For a slalom course you can line up filled water bottles with enough space between them.
Once your cat has explored everything and maybe even tried something on her own, you can start training. Lure your cat with a →treat through the tunnel. If she comes out the other side, use the clicker and reward her. Practice each part of the course separately, and only combine the obstacles at the end.
5. Cat TV – showtime!
Your feline friend naturally has the perfect grandma trait. If she could, she’d spend all day sitting on a park bench and watching everything that happens, and her entertainment level would be at 100%. Set up a cozy spot on the windowsill or by the balcony where she can comfortably watch everything going on outside.
Dancing leaves, pigeons, cars, neighbors on the balcony or in the garden—it’s all an exciting experience for your cat. And after all the play and training, she can take a break and recharge for a new adventure in the apartment with you.
